Bin Laden Spokesman to Lose Kuwaiti Citizenship
Wednesday October 10 1:32 PM ET
Bin Laden Spokesman to Lose Kuwaiti
Citizenship
By Ashraf Fouad
KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait said Wednesday it planned to revoke the
citizenship of a former Muslim preacher who emerged this week as
spokesman for Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and issued threats
described by the United States as ``chilling.''
Acting Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah told Kuwaiti
newspaper editors that Sulaiman Bu Ghaith was suspected of
involvement in terrorist attacks by bin Laden's al Qaeda organization.
``The intention now is to withdraw his citizenship at the next cabinet
meeting Sunday,'' Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad
al-Sabah told Reuters.
``By his own admission he is involved in terrorism and we no longer deal
with him as a Kuwaiti but as part of al Qaeda organization,'' the minister
added.
He said Ghaith had obtained an Afghan passport in violation of Kuwaiti
laws.
Threats that Ghaith broadcast overnight on behalf of bin Laden's al
Qaeda organization were described as chilling by Secretary of State
Colin Powell (news - web sites) who also called him ``an evil person.''
Ghaith said: ``The sons of Islam will not stop seeking revenge for all
atrocities committed against them and 'punishing as punished' is only
natural... Oh sons of Islam, children of Islam, women of Islam, men of
Islam, this is the caller of Jihad, he is calling on you to fight.''
DENOUNCED AS TRAITOR
He first appeared as a spokesman for bin Laden Sunday, seated at his
right hand in a videotape broadcast as Western forces began air strikes
on Afghanistan (news - web sites).
After that appearance Sheikh Sabah said: ``This is not only traitorous,
but a crime against his country.''
Ghaith, born in 1965, is a former school teacher and Muslim cleric with
six children. He went to Afghanistan from Kuwait only last June but
quickly emerged as a close aid to bin Laden.
His wife and children returned to Kuwait, unable to put up with the
harsh conditions, Kuwaiti security sources said.
Ghaith became popular in Kuwait by making powerful sermons during
the 1990-91 Iraqi occupation in which he dared to attack Baghdad and
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
But he was later banned from delivering sermons in government
mosques for attacking the Kuwaiti constitution, the government and
other Arab states, and worked as a teacher.
The Kuwait Interior Ministry says he is a wanted man but has not
disclosed the charges against him.
A former co-worker of Ghaith in Kuwait told Reuters he was probably
picked by bin Laden as spokesman ``because as you know it is difficult
for Osama to move under these conditions.''
``So they needed someone like Ghaith who is relatively unknown, not
wanted for something specific. So Ghaith can move easier and get out al
Qaeda's point of view.''
The United States launched air strikes against Afghanistan to punish its
ruling Taliban for failing to hand over bin Laden, named as the prime
suspect in the September 11 attacks which killed more than 5,500
people in the United States.
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